A former Taoyuan police officer who shot and killed a passenger in a vehicle that was fleeing police has been found not guilty of negligent homicide, the Taoyuan District Court said yesterday.
The court said the defendant, surnamed Tseng (曾), was deputy head of the Taoyuan Police Department’s Bade Precinct when the incident occurred on the night of March 27, 2020.
After noticing a suspicious car in an alley, Tseng used a loudspeaker to order it to pull over. The car’s driver, surnamed Wu (吳), who was drunk at the time, sped off, sparking a chase in which he reversed two times to ram Tseng’s patrol car.
Photo: Chou Min-hung, Taipei Times
After reversing a third time, Wu turned his vehicle to the right to flee again. Tseng, who had exited his car, fired five shots at the moving vehicle’s back tire, two of which hit a female passenger in the car’s back seat.
The passenger, surnamed Yang (楊), was struck in the leg and back by the bullets, and later died despite emergency medical treatment.
In its ruling, the Taoyuan court said Wu’s reckless driving during the episode had posed a “significant danger” to other drivers and pedestrians.
Based on surveillance video footage of the shooting, it was also clear that Tseng was aiming downward toward the vehicle’s tires when he fired the shots to bring it to a stop, it said.
Given the severity and potential danger of the situation, as well as that Tseng followed police protocol on the use of firearms, the court said there was insufficient evidence that he committed a crime and found him not guilty.
The verdict can be appealed.
Meanwhile, Wu was previously found guilty of driving under the influence and obstructing a public official and was sentenced to a combined eight months in prison, commutable to a fine.
Although Tseng was cleared of criminal charges, a court in February ordered the Taoyuan City Government and Bade Police Precinct to pay a combined NT$7.48 million (US$233,984) in state compensation to Yang’s parents and two children over her death.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
SECURITY RISK: A university student sent a general alarm signal to THSRC’s control center on April 5, causing four operating trains to temporarily halt services The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday pledged to submit a report on ways to harden the communication security of railway systems after a university student hacked into Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) radio communications system and disrupted operations of four high-speed rail trains last month. Investigation by the police and prosecutors found that the university student and radio enthusiast, surnamed Lin (林), first used a software-defined radio (SDR) filter to analyze THSRC signals, downloaded the data to a computer, cracked the parameters and then programmed the codes into his radio devices. Lin then sent a general alarm signal to
RSS